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November 24, 2009

Tuesday's That & This

**Currently, Georgia is a 7-point underdog to Georgia Tech. I am rather surprised the spread isn't higher, thinking it would be at or close to double digits. I expect this line to move up to at least 7 and a hook by kickoff.

Unless the Jackets' entire Triple-Option offense comes down with the flu from now until Saturday, it'll mark just the ninth time Georgia Tech has been favored over Georgia since 1973 (the Bulldogs have been favored on 28 occasions) and the first time since 2001.

A 7-point spread is the second-highest for the Jackets over the Dogs only behind 1990's when Georgia Tech entered the game as 12.5-point favorites. I remember the '90 Georgia-Georgia Tech game in Athens quite well.

The Yellow Jackets had won every game but one, were highly ranked, and heading to their first upper-tier bowl game in years. Georgia, on the other hand, was hovering around .500, its program was in disarray, and was heading to its worst season in years. Sound familiar?

The Bulldogs had a 9-0 second-quarter advantage but their lead was short-lived. Behind sophomore quarterback Shawn Jones (Photo of Jones from '91 Citrus Bowl), the Yellow Jackets woke up and poured it on Georgia, winning 40-23.

The most entertaining aspect of the game, besides watching Georgia's Greg Talley and Joe Dupree rotate at quarterback, was when an airplane flew over Sanford Stadium at one point, carrying a banner that read: "Fire Ray Goof!"

**Those of you who enjoy Bulldog trivia must check out The Smartest Bulldog. Rack up points answering trivia about mostly Georgia football (and a little on other UGA sports) and win prizes. You can play on teams as well.

I especially like the game because there is a time limit per question, impacting the number of points scored. So, one cannot sit on the Internet all day or slowly thumb through the media guide to find the correct answers.

I spoke to one of the guys who started the website the other day, Stan, and he indicated there are even bigger and better things to come at The Smartest Bulldog. Y'all signup and look for me in the daily standings at PGarbin.

**With a probable loss to Georgia Tech coming and most likely facing an unranked bowl opponent (although there are some pundits who still think we're playing Clemson in the Chick-fil-A), it appears Georgia will finish the 2009 season 0-4 against AP-ranked opponents. How the mighty have fallen...

Coach Richt entered this season with an impressive 27-16 record against AP-ranked opponents. In comparison, Dooley was 33-32-4, Donnan 13-26-2, and Goff 4-21-1.

However, Richt first took a step back a year ago when the Bulldogs were just 3-3 against the rank and those wins came against Vanderbilt, LSU (both finished 2008 outside the top 25), and Michigan State (finished at only #24).

An 0-4 mark against ranked opposition would be the Bulldogs' third-worst record in the 74 seasons the AP Poll has existed; Georgia was 0-5 in both 1990 and 1995.

The '90 and '95 teams, however, are somewhat excusable.

As mentioned, the 1990 Bulldogs had Joe Dupree throwing passes by the end of the year. Enough said.

In '95, Goff's last season, Georgia actually went to a bowl even though we lost Robert Edwards and Mike Bobo to season-ending injuries by the fourth game of the year.

Of the Bulldogs' six losses, five were to ranked teams, and Georgia pulled upset victories on the road that season against Clemson and Georgia Tech. Most of all, as I've written in the past, the 1995 campaign was nearly permissible because...

...the Bulldogs had seven running backs miss at least one game with an injury, while six different scatbacks started the first eight games of the season. The low point of Georgia's injury epidemic was when Odell Collins, another running back, pulled a hamstring in late October while doing his laundry and missed the rest of the year.

What's the excuse for this season?

**In case you're interested in me continuing to discuss pointspreads, I had my first featured article posted on Covers.com.